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Meditation is best described as focused concentration. A common misconception states that during meditation you let your mind go completely blank, this is far from the truth. Meditation does however involve quieting the conscious mind to enable the subconscious mind to come to the fore, so you can see how the misconception arose.
There are many forms of meditation, some can take only a few minutes, and others may potentially take hours. Not all meditations will work for you; some people find a particular meditation suits them perfectly, whilst the same meditation may be completely ineffectual for another person. It is only through practice and experimentation that you will be able to find the appropriate meditation for yourself. Learning meditation by yourself can be difficult; a common question posed by people is "am I doing it properly?" The answer is there is no right or wrong method, only the method that works for you. Each person is unique, so it is understandable that methods and results will also be unique. There are however commonalties, everyone has trouble in sustaining the impetus to meditate at first, the "I'll do it tomorrow..." philosophy reigns supreme. We all find it difficult to close ourselves away in an environment where we will not be disturbed; or feel that others may be laughing behind our backs. If these aspects prove insurmountable to you, then if you are able to join an evening class or local group that offers meditation classes, these provide the discipline of dictating set times to meditate and enable you to share successes and failures with other people.
It is said that twenty minutes of meditation can provide the equivalent relaxation and rejuvenation as three hours of sleep. I am not suggesting that you use meditation as a substitute for sufficient sleep, but it is a wonderful technique for relaxation and stress relief. It should also be used as a preparation tool before rituals.
Several types of meditation exist, but the two main ones are guided meditations and self-guided meditations. Self-guided meditations require you to guide yourself through the process of meditation and memorise a goal and the method to achieve that goal. You can loosely memorise some of the set texts and use these as the basis of your self-guided meditation. Although this may sound difficult, there are some very simple self-guided meditations that require little if any effort, and these are good general meditation practice.
Another form of self-guided meditation is spot meditation, whereby you concentrate on an object or picture, and obverse the images that come into your mind.
Guided meditations involve concentrating on the spoken word of another person, or a recording of you own voice speaking a set text. I provide some sample set texts in this section, but you are quite at liberty to write your own using these texts as a guide.
Breathing technique during meditation is important, and you should always breath through the nostrils. Even the act of self-regulated calm breathing can have a wonderfully relaxing effect.
Breathe deeply into the abdomen so the belly swells out slightly on each inhalation, and then draws back and flattens on each exhalation. It is recommended that you breath in and out to a count of four, and pause between breaths for a count of two. Do not forcibly hold the breath, the pause should be a muscle control exercise rather than an act of closing the windpipe to block the flow of air. It is worthwhile practising this technique until you find a natural rhythm and no longer need to count 4-2-4-2 in you head, as this will detract from your meditation.
Once you have mastered the breathing technique above, move on to the self-guided breath meditations below.
You may print out any of these meditations, or adapt them for personal use.
Simple breath meditation - A short meditation concentrating on the action of breathing. 10-20 minutes duration.
Wave breath meditation - A short meditation again concentrating on breathing, but involving visualisations. 10-20 minutes duration.
Earth breath meditation - Another breath meditation, this one is very grounding but requires more visualisation. At least 15 minutes duration, preferably longer.
Affirmation - An affirmation style meditation to boost self-love, love of others, and love of the planet.
Spot meditation - Describes how to meditate on an object or picture. Can be very useful if short of time, or whilst at work.
Line of light - A meditation that can help to open up the whole chakra system.
Inner temple - Visit you inner temple and commune with the Lord and Lady.
